Reuters reports:

President Joe Biden on Thursday accused his predecessor Donald Trump of spreading a “web of lies” to undermine U.S. democracy in a speech on the anniversary of the deadly Capitol attack by Trump supporters who tried to undo his 2020 election defeat.

Speaking at the white-domed building where rioters smashed windows, assaulted police and sent lawmakers fleeing for their lives on Jan. 6, 2021, Biden said Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud could unravel the rule of law and subvert future elections.

“A former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He’s done so because he values power over principle,” Biden said. “He can’t accept he lost.”

Biden never actually uttered his predecessor’s name during the 25-minute speech, telling reporters afterward he was trying to focus on the threats to America’s political system instead of Trump himself.

The tone, including a poke at Trump’s “bruised ego,” was a departure for Biden, who has focused during most of his first year in office on pursuing his own agenda. Trump issued three statements in the hours following his successor’s remarks accusing Biden of trying to divide the country and repeating his false election claims.

Trump’s behavior over the past year, like his conduct in office, has been norm-shattering. Unlike other former U.S. presidents denied re-election, Trump has refused to accept the verdict of the voters and pressured fellow Republicans to somehow overturn the results, without success. [Continue reading…]

Matt Lewis writes:

In what may be the most powerful speech of his presidency, Joe Biden commemorated the one-year anniversary of the January 6 riot in the U.S. Capitol not just by condemning the violence and defending democracy, but by calling Donald Trump a loser.

“He’s not just a former president. He’s a defeated former president,” Biden said, twisting the knife in his conquered rival. “[B]ecause his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy, or our Constitution…he can’t accept he lost.”

Too harsh? I don’t think so. It was, to borrow a phrase from an American winner, “altogether fitting and proper,” since the Capitol insurrection was the result of Trump’s big lie about the 2020 election having been stolen. Give Biden credit for going straight to the root of the problem. Trump didn’t just incite the mob on Jan. 6, he did so after pouring gasoline for months with his bogus “Stop the Steal” rhetoric.

That’s not to say that Biden merely engaged in petty bullying or name calling (indeed, Biden never uttered the former’s president’s name) at the expense of his moral authority. In my estimation, he struck the perfect balance. To borrow a ridiculous line sometimes invoked about the previous guy, This is the day that Biden became president. [Continue reading…]